Just go to http://www.fmdxantenna.com

It is available there.

Good question and I’m glad you brought it up.

The only good Terk antenna is the indoor AM loop they make. They don’t have one good FM antenna in their entire line. The Terk AM loop though is as good a value in an AM antenna as there is available.

The reason some people mistakenly mis-lead others regarding an antenna is that some setups just need ANY antenna to work better.

A wet string cut to the correct length would draw raves from some people.

Another example is that a couple of stereo manufacturers sell a mobile 2way radio antenna that is made for the marine band but they re-brand them and sell them as end-fed dipoles for FM. They are junk on FM; they don’t work BUT if you don’t have an antenna and purchase that one (for $80-100) and put it outside and you are now able to pick up the station you want to pick up then you will shout from the mountain top about how that antenna is the greatest when, again, a wet string outside would have picked up as good or better than those horrible end-fed dipoles.

One more example is a popular retailer for radio equipment sells a standard wire dipole made from coax and markets it as the best indoor antenna. It may be a BIT better than the wire dipoles that are provided free with stereos, but not much. You will see people rave about them though because they compare them to nothing or to another inferior antenna such as the end-fed dipole.

Long story-short, don’t buy Terk for FM, save your money and buy something else.

Good questions about your particular situation! Thanks for the detail of your message as well, that helps.

Three recommendations:

1/ Don’t use a Terk.

2/ First, try a simple FM wire dipole. They are fine in many circumstances and it sounds like a wire dipole will suit your needs just fine and are commonly available in the stereo section of any major retailer. Same rules apply, mount it high and it is slightly directional to the flat side so mount it to the wall that faces the station you want to receive.

3/ The Indoor dipole in the article above can be mounted to a wall and actually it works the best (I have found) when mounted vertical so it would be to your advantage.

Read the FM Reception Guide on this site if you haven’t. It has some good stuff that may help as well.

Have a great weekend!

The key with FM signal reception is height and that is working against you. The rabbit ears are as good as you can do but you shouldn’t expect much in the basement. Many people mount antennas in their attic or a crawl space with great success as well.

You might enjoy reading more at the FM Reception Guide:

http://www.amfmreception.com/fm-radio/fm-reception-guide/

I believe your solution would work just as well as the revised version and the mismatch would not be an issue in the real world. You would get so little advantage, if any, from a new antenna that I would stay with what you have.

About the splitter combiner I don’t see why you couldn’t do that but you should try to just split the current signal and run it to your tuner because most TV antennas do a moderately good job at receiving FM because FM radio is located between TV channels 6 and 7.

The indoor dipole could be mounted one floor down as well but probably would not work as well as an antenna in the attic due to the added height. Height is always an advantage with FM.

The indoor dipole I recommend is directional when used as a traditional set of rabbit ears. The next directional antenna would be the Antennacraft FM6 which is the next-smallest commonly available directional antenna for the attic. I really believe the indoor dipole in the article would work with the tuning knob and by getting the elements at a good angle though.

The FM indoor dipole will be the best for Larry. It should be used vertically (one element pointing straight up and one pointing straight down) and in front of the window or higher in the room if possible.
Please give Larry a hug for me!

I have a TON of suggestions and I have recorded them all on one page on this very Web site. Please check out the FM reception guide and the questions and comments that follow it:

http://www.amfmreception.com/fm-radio/fm-reception-guide/

Plus the potato on a wire tastes far better than the Terk! Thanks for your comments and you are right. I’m not anti-Terk because I often recommend their AM antenna but their FM antennas leave a lot to be desired which is unfortunate because they are so commonly sold.

My first name is Lake so we probably aren’t quite as closely related as maybe we would be. Haha.

Check out the FM Reception Guide located elsewhere on the Web site. It will give tons of tips on what you need to do to get the station. I checked out Lake Whitney on the map and then the location of the transmitter which is up between Sherman and Gainesville well north of Dallas. It will be difficult but not impossible to get that station. You are correct in that he will need a yagi pointed at the transmitter location and the yagi needs to be as high as possible. No need to cut down trees as they will not block reception of the station. A suggestion, first get the yagi and have someone go on the roof or up somewhere and point it at the station with a good piece of coax to see if that isn’t enough to get the station; it may be unnecessary to go ridiculously high.

The station may also be on the Internet, you could hook him up that way!

Larry, read the FM Reception guide linked above, it is loaded with good stuff.

Please let me know if you have additional questions.

1. Yes, without a doubt.

2. Probably as I know you can combine Dish or DirecTV signals with off-air signals so if there is some sort of signal combiner for that then you could use one of those I feel certain though I haven’t actually done it. Theoretically it is just the same. The one thing to note as that XM (just like Dish and DirecTV) put voltage on their antenna feed for their antennas and you must keep this voltage off your FM tuner or receiver. If I’m not mistaken though the XM (and Sirius) voltage is identical as the Dish/DirecTV so any parts for one are basically interchangeable.